Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto has decided to skip a conference of parties opposed to President Pervez Musharraf scheduled to take place in London later this month, an aide said on Friday.

Benazir's absence, political analysts say, will inevitably refuel speculation that she will cut some deal with Musharraf either before or after elections due this year or early 2008, that could pave the way for her Pakistan People's Party to join the ruling coalition and her eventual return to Pakistan.

The All Parties Conference, to be hosted by another exiled former premier Nawaz Sharif, is due to be held on March 24-25 to chalk out an anti-Musharraf campaign ahead of the elections.

"Benazir will not be there and we have informed the PML-N about

this," said Farhatullah Babar, spokesman for Benazir Bhutto's PPP, referring to Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League party.

Benazir Bhutto will send representatives, Babar said.

Sharif, who was ousted by General Musharraf after a bloodless coup in 1999, and Benazir had appeared to set aside old enmities when they signed a Charter of Democracy last year, and joined an Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy in the wake of the military takeover.